Research study on clinical trial participation

Dear all

I am currently a student at the University of Leeds studying for a masters’ degree in social research and I am employed as a Research Assistant (for Myeloma, Leukaemia and Lymphoma) in a Clinical Trials Research Centre at a West Yorkshire hospital. For my research project, I wish to understand what peoples’ views of clinical trials are through their on-line discussions. I am interested in what matters to people when they are discussing trials and how they support each other on-line. I am particularly interested in how on-line discussions affect people’s decisions about participation in clinical trials. I therefore hope that my findings will be useful to the people involved in setting up and running clinical trials as well as to patients and their families.

I would like to conduct telephone interviews with people who participate in online discussion of clinical trials for leukaemias and lymphomas. I would like to discuss the ways in which you use the forum, your views of clinical trials, and how you would make a decision about participating in clinical trials. I would like to speak to people who are considering their own participation, or the participation of a relative.

The interview will last approximately 30 minutes. You can withdraw from the interview at any time. The interview will be tape recorded, with your permission. I will transcribe the conversation and analyse it, with my supervisor’s help. I will write about my findings in y dissertation and I may quote from the interviews, but I will not name anyone in this or any other document. The transcripts will be destroyed after the project has finished. A summary of the results will be available to all participants.

If you would like to participate, please e-mail me at the following e-mail address, so06clb@leeds.ac.uk and we can discuss a convenient time to conduct the interview.

If you would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact me or my University supervisor, Professor Anne Kerr at e.a.kerr@leeds.ac.uk.

Kind regards
Carla Barrett